Daily Archives: August 30, 2015

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Zillow via Credit.comOne of these homes was listed for $139 million, and the other for a mere $13.9 million. Can you tell which is which?

By Michael Schreiber

Perusing homes out of one’s price range online may as well be a national pastime in America. Who doesn’t love imagining what it would be like to live someplace palatial, or even just gawk at these monster homes and their even bigger price tags?

In the world of real estate, however, there’s expensive and then there’s insanely expensive. The Credit.com team decided to take a look at two homes for this article, one of which is way out of our price range, the other of which is way, way, way, way, waaaaaaaaaay out of our price range.

The former is a seven-bedroom, nine-bath Florida home in Coral Gables, selling for $13.9 million. The latter is an 11-bedroom, 17-bath house, just up the road in Hillsboro Beach. The Hillsboro mansion was on the market for a mere $139 million before the listing was removed — perhaps indicating a sale, or perhaps a change of heart by the seller.

We wanted to see what the real difference is between the two places. Is the Hillsboro Beach place really 10 times the house? How could one even arrive at that price?

Who are we kidding? We really just wanted to look at the pretty pictures.

Let’s Start with the “Small” Place

Zillow via Credit.com

According to the listing on Zillow, here are the basics for the $13.9 million property in Coral Gables.

Seven bedrooms.

Nine bathrooms.

12,636 square feet.

2.07-acre lot.

Built in 1999.

Price per square foot: $1,104.

2014 property taxes: $96,863.

Parking: attached garage, four spaces.

And here are some of the highlights from description:

“A foyer with a grand chandelier and 28-foot ceilings opens to a formal living room with 30-foot tall ceilings….

“Perfectly manicured gardens permeate the scenery, and are complemented by a babbling brook, a resort-style pool with waterfall bridge, a sophisticated cabana with gourmet summer kitchen…

“While the canal does not support a large vessel, the estate comes with a deeded boat slip allowing up to a 60-foot yacht.

“Two downstairs wet bars, including one in a library lounge offers plenty of variety for entertaining…

“Across the hall from the library lounge is a home cinema….

“Take the elevator or the stairs to the second floor where a split plan finds the master suite set away from the other bedrooms.

For those of you with $139 million burning a hole in your pocket, here are the basics of the Hillsboro Beach property also known as “Le Palais Royal” that recently was pulled from the market. The listing is courtesy of Zillow.

11 bedrooms.

17 bathrooms.

41,774 square feet.

2.48-acre lot.

Built in 2014.

Price per square foot: $3,327.

2014 property taxes: $143,855.

Parking: attached garage, 30 spaces.

And here are some excerpts from the description of the house featured on Le Palais Royal’s dedicated website.

“On one side of your very own private 465 [feet] of Atlantic beachfront and on the other side be romanced at the view of your yacht docked on 492 feet on the [Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway]….

“Custom designed doors…with 22-karat gold leafing, opening beneath the grand [staircase]… taking craftsmen more than two years to realize with an investment of $2 Million….